‘Very Severe’ Cyclone Biparjoy To Intensify In 24 Hrs; Well-Marked Low Pressure Persists Over BoB

Bhubaneswar:  The very severe cyclonic storm Biparjoy is expected to intensify further in the next 24 hours and move north-northeastwards, India Meteorological Department (IMD) informed on Saturday.

“Biparjoy over eastcentral Arabian Sea moved nearly northwards with a speed of 9 kmph during past 6 hours and lay centered at 5.30 am on June 10 over the same region, about 700 km west of Goa, 630 km west-southwest of Mumbai, 620 km south-southwest of Porbandar and 930 km south of Karachi. It is very likely to intensify further and move north-northeastwards gradually during next 24 hours. Then it would move gradually north-northwestwards during subsequent 3 days,” the weather agency said in the morning bulletin.

With the storm packing winds up to 145 kmph, the IMD has warned of heavy rain and squall in coastal areas of Karnataka, Goa, and Maharashtra. Tithal Beach on the Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat has been closed to tourists till June 14. Fishermen have been cautioned against venturing into the seas off the coast of Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, and Lakshadweep.

A yellow alert was issued for eight districts – Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Kozhikode, and Kannur – in Kerala on Friday.

“Model clusters starting to lean toward Biparjoy threatening southern Pakistan & Gujarat in India next week. However, track toward Oman still not off the table. Wind intensity should ease some as it nears coast next week but heavy rain can remain a concern,” senior meteorologist Jason Nicholl tweeted.

Meanwhile, the well marked low pressure area over northeast Bay of Bengal was over Northeast Bay of Bengal and adjoining area of Southeast Bangladesh-North Myanmar Coasts at 5.30 this morning.